Filling in a mystery gap
Maidenhead: Dentist to open on site where practice shut without warning
A Maidenhead dentist site is set to be refurbished and taken over by a new practice after mystery surrounded its sudden closure.
Patients registered at Stoneleigh Dental Practice, in St Luke’s Road, were left bemused after finding the doors closed and no communication sent out about the future of their practice.
Steve Corey, who was a patient there along with his wife and two children, said that he found out via social media that the dentist had mysteriously shut.
He told the Advertiser he received no letters or emails from the practice about the decision, and was forced to hunt around for a new dentist.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a backlog in dentist appointments and many have taken the decision to stop registering new patients as they deal with the pressures.
Steve said he was ‘one of the lucky ones’ after being able to get on the books with another NHS dentist in Maidenhead, but others were left in limbo about where to access care for their teeth.
It has now emerged that Damira Dental Studios, which has a base at 91 Queen Street in Maidenhead, will be moving from here to take over the Stoneleigh site next year.
Notices have since gone up on the doors at Stoneleigh informing people of the change.
Steve, who was registered as an NHS patient at the former practice, told the Advertiser of his family’s experience of having to deal with the unexpected closure of his dental practice.
“It is nice to be kept informed – whether it is your GP or the guy who mends your car. If you are a customer, you think it would be nice if they let us know [that they had closed],” he said.
“We had no communication.
It was like ‘we are closing’ – great, but what does that mean for us? We thought ‘that is something else we’ve got to deal with now’.
“I tried a dentist in Maidenhead and they said they had a year’s waiting list – who wants to wait a year?”
Anushika Brogan, managing director of Damira Dental Studios, confirmed to the Advertiser that it was due to take over the Stoneleigh building next year following a complete refurbishment.
The practice provides services for a mixture of both NHS and private patients.
“We will be moving into the new site, probably next year, but for the time being we are going to be seeing any patients from Stoneleigh,” she said. “We will just need some evidence that they have been seen there before.
“We have not been able to tell patients what the plan is because it has not been confirmed, but it has now been confirmed with the NHS.
“It is difficult for patients – they think they are registered somewhere and it is not there – but to confirm, we will be providing services for them and will be getting in touch with patients slowly.”
An NHS spokesman said that the Stoneleigh practice has 'temporarily closed to routine patients', with plans to renovate the site over the 'next few months'.
“We are working with Stoneleigh to support it in continuing to offer NHS dental provision in the future, maintaining NHS provision available to patients in Maidenhead, to deliver access to routine and urgent dental care for patients,” he added.